Next up - Slipknot

Venue: SECC, Glasgow
Date: 08/12/08
Support Acts: Children of Bodom, Machine HeadFriends there: Dechlan, Freya (and Freyas Mum?)

I found out about this gig a little later than i would have liked, especially as it meant i ended up getting a seated ticket. Now, being my second gig, i thought seating wouldnt be too bad, but its definately not the same. I was unfortunate enough to be on my own since Freya and Dechlan had got their tickets earlier than me, and that on its own was enough to make me not enjoy the gig nearly as much as i could have. But for bands such as these, you really cant be seated, even if you dont plan on getting a good mosh on the go, standing in the crowd is pretty much essential for getting the best of the experience. Its a lot quieter, you cant see the band nearly as well as on the floor level, and it lacks the intensity of the un-seated. Of course its good if you just want to have a relaxing little listen to music, in that case its on par with lying on the grass at a music festival in a way (though still not entirely). But anyway lets get on with the bands.

As with pretty much every time i have been to the SECC after this gig, we missed just about all of the first band (Children of Bodom), so nothing enlightening to say about them, though i do love their music and would have liked to have caught their performance. Machine head were great, and one upside of being on a raised level is seeing the crowd as you wouldnt when being a part of it. So i did have the pleasure of witnessing the carnage of mosh pits from a better angle. There was at least one person who literally flew through the air during machine head, picked up by the omnipresent "big guy" thats in every mosh pit, and tossed through the air like a sack of potatoes. And the sheer volume of shoes and various other items of clothing getting thrown around was mildly entertaining.

Then Slipknot came on for the headline performance. I had never been a big fan of slipknot at the time, i was only just getting into my more growly/shouty vocals as opposed to the clearer singing of bands like Iron Maiden and Metallica. But Slipknot put on an excellent performance, and quite probably set aside a few of my uncertainties about their kind of music. They also had these AWESOME hydraulic drumkits set on stair lifts which rose and span during the gig. But what was even more incredible was the main drummer being able to play like normal (pretty crazy drumbeats too as far as i know) even when he was raised and flipped upside down! Now that was something id never seen before (though i believe they do it quite often).
So all in all it was a good gig, but it could have easily been better, and from then on iv avoided seating and plan to keep on doing so unless for certain special bands which are more about relaxing and listening

I just remembered this gig was the one where we missed the last train home due to the cloakroom queue being so long, so we ended up getting a bus. And most interesting bit of the journey which sticks in my memory was a conversation that sprung up on the bus. We were all coming from the gig so there was the mutual feeling of slight kinship that comes with being at the same gig, which makes it easier to talk amongst folk who would otherwise be total strangers (and strange is the key word in that!). Basically the conversation was about how the toilet was out of order, but then somehow got to the topic of what people would do if the bus was to become stranded on the way to edinburgh with no hope of rescue for whatever reason. And i remember one guy (who i seen again multiple times in edinburgh afterwards) saying that he was starving, so if it happened he would eat the shit out of the blocked toilet. The most disgustingly strange thing iv ever heard someone say to a group of people theyve never met before, and its forever stuck there in my head. But it made me laugh as well as cringe.